On the Deduction of the EPP from Labeling

• Manabu Mizuguchi ^[1]
  1. [1] Kokugakuin University

     Kokugakuin University

     Japón

     
• Localización: Studia linguistica: A journal of general linguistics, ISSN 0039-3193, Vol. 76, Nº 3, 2022, págs. 837-872
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The present paper examines a recent attempt to deduce the EPP from labeling. Chomsky (2015) argues that the EPP is reducible to Label Weakness. In this paper, I first point out that Label Weakness raises problems that are not faced under the EPP. I then propose that pair-Merge (i.e. the Merge that yields an asymmetric structure) provides a solution to Label Weakness, claiming that Merge, together with Label Weakness, explains the EPP. I show that the proposal brings theoretically and empirically favorable consequences. Given the proposed analysis, I also argue that externalization is the other side of the EPP, demonstrating that it explains the EPP when a labeling problem is solved and that it reduces parametric variations with the EPP to the peripheries of the computation. This paper argues that Merge plays a key role in language and endorses the Merge-based language design proposed in the Minimalist Program.